A fieldwork conclusion should claim only as much as the sample allows. Say what you found in your sample, then say how far it may apply and what could change it.
The example below is invented for teaching. No real survey, place or result is used.
What does the mistake look like?
A class collects data, draws a neat graph and writes: “People in the town prefer to travel by car.” The sentence is clear and confident. It is also a claim about every resident, backed by one morning outside one building.
Examiners reward conclusions that match the evidence and recognise limits. Overclaiming tends to lose the evaluation marks even when the data collection was careful.
What causes it?
Three habits are behind most overclaiming.
The first is treating a percentage as if it described the whole population. The second is forgetting how the sample was chosen, so a convenience sample gets labelled as representative. The third is ignoring one extreme reading because it spoils the pattern.
All three are fixable with a short checklist before you write the conclusion.
Worked example
Invented enquiry: “How do people reach the Town Y shopping centre?” A group stood at the main entrance on one Saturday at 10 a.m. and asked arrivals how they travelled.
Sample: 12 people. 9 arrived by car, 2 by bus and 1 on foot.
Overclaimed conclusion: “75% of people in Town Y travel by car.”
Check 1, is the arithmetic right? 9 out of 12 is 9 ÷ 12 = 0.75, so 75% of the sample. The arithmetic is fine. The claim about Town Y is the problem.
Check 2, how was the sample chosen? It was a convenience sample: one entrance, one time. It leaves out people who shop elsewhere, at other times, or who did not come at all.
Check 3, how big is it? Twelve people. One different answer moves the figure by about 8 percentage points, because 1 ÷ 12 is about 0.083.
Matched conclusion: “In this sample of 12 shoppers at one entrance on one Saturday morning, 9 arrived by car. This suggests car use was common among these shoppers. A larger sample taken at different times and places would be needed to say whether the pattern holds for the town.”
The matched version keeps the finding, states the count, names the method and says what would strengthen it.
How do outliers change the picture?
Suppose the group also counted pedestrians passing five points along the road in ten minutes: 1, 2, 2, 3 and 12. The mean is 20 ÷ 5 = 4, but the median is 2. The count of 12 was taken beside a bus stop.
Quoting only the mean suggests four pedestrians was typical.
Reporting both and explaining the bus stop is more honest. Try the numbers in the fieldwork sample and graph planner and the statistics and distribution explorer. Both warn you when a summary hides an extreme value.
A wording ladder you can reuse
- Too strong: “This proves”, “everyone”, “the town”.
- Better: “In my sample”, “this suggests”, “these shoppers”.
- Add a limit: “taken at one time and place”, “only 12 responses”.
- Add a next step: “a larger or random sample would test this”.
Check yourself
1. A group asks 20 students in one canteen queue whether they walk to school. 8 say yes. What percentage of the sample walks, and write one cautious sentence.
Show answer
8 ÷ 20 = 0.4, so 40% of the sample. A cautious sentence: “In this sample of 20 students from one canteen queue, 8 walked to school, so walking was used by a minority of these students.”
2. Five river width readings are 4, 5, 5, 6 and 30 metres. Find the mean and the median. Which is better for describing a typical width, and why?
Show answer
Mean: 4 + 5 + 5 + 6 + 30 = 50, and 50 ÷ 5 = 10 m. Median: the middle value of the ordered list is 5 m. The median describes a typical width better, because the 30 m reading pulls the mean upward. Investigate that reading before deciding what it means.
3. Why is “every tenth person who passes” a stronger method than “whoever looked friendly”?
Show answer
A fixed rule, called systematic sampling, reduces the collector’s choice, so the sample is less likely to reflect personal preference. It may still miss some groups, so state the method and its limits.
Where to go next
Study fieldwork design and sampling and fieldwork analysis and evaluation for the full routine. The Geography learning guide shows where fieldwork sits in the subject. Check with your school which fieldwork or alternative-assessment route applies to your entry.
If your conclusions still run ahead of your evidence, one-to-one teaching can work on your own write-up. See online one-to-one Geography tuition.